INDIANAPOLIS — Adrian Gardner, MD, MPH, a global health leader who spent the last seven years in Kenya as part of the Indiana University School of Medicine-led AMPATH program, has been named the school’s associate dean for global health.
He will also serve as director of the IU Center for Global Health, an umbrella institute that develops, coordinates and promotes a comprehensive strategy for the university’s global health engagement. Both appointments are effective February 1.
Gardner joined the faculty of IU School of Medicine in 2012 when he was named executive field director of the AMPATH Consortium. The consortium includes 12 North American universities that collaborate with Moi University and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya to develop a comprehensive, sustainable health system that serves 8 million people in western Kenya. In his new position, Gardner will also serve as executive director of the AMPATH Consortium.
Gardner succeeds Robert M. Einterz, MD, the school’s inaugural dean for global health and one of the founders of AMPATH. Einterz is retiring from IU after more than 30 years on faculty at IU School of Medicine.
“Over the past three decades, Dr. Einterz and his colleagues have demonstrated how North American medical schools can successfully work in partnership with host countries to provide high-quality care, train local health care providers, and address poverty, hunger and other factors that contribute to poor health,” said IU School of Medicine Dean Jay L. Hess, MD, PhD, MHSA, who is also IU’s executive vice president for university clinical affairs. “I am confident that Dr. Gardner is the ideal person to build on that legacy and extend the reach and impact of our global health programs.”
In addition to AMPATH, the school’s international footprint in health care practice, policy and research spans four continents. This includes leadership of the IeDEA consortium, which analyzes data from more than 1 million patients with HIV worldwide; expertise in malaria, mosquito-borne illnesses, maternal and infant mortality, and other health challenges that are common in the developing world; and extensive global health educational opportunities in countries such as El Salvador, Nicaragua and China.
The school is also committed to applying lessons learned through global health engagement and research to improve health in underserved communities throughout Indiana.
“I am honored to build on the work of global health champions like Drs. Bob Einterz and Joe Mamlin,” said Gardner, who will hold the title of Donald E. Brown Scholar in Global Health. “Ever since I first traveled to Kenya as a medical student, I knew I wanted to dedicate my career to global health and serving the world’s most vulnerable citizens. I am eager to work with the incredible team at IU School of Medicine to establish new partnerships, create more global health opportunities for learners and reach more patients through our work.”
Gardner earned his undergraduate and medical degrees at Brown University and a master’s of public health from Harvard University. He completed both his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in infectious diseases at the Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a clinical research fellowship in infectious diseases at Brown.
His scholarly interests include program development and health systems strengthening in resource-poor settings, clinical and operational research in tuberculosis and HIV, global health training and education, and antimicrobial stewardship and infection control.
“In an increasingly connected world, global health engagement is critical,” said Mark W. Geraci, MD, chair of the IU School of Medicine Department of Medicine, which is home to the IU Center for Global Health. “Dr. Gardner has been instrumental in the efforts of his Kenyan colleagues to develop population health programs. In addition, he will lead expansion of the AMPATH program to new locations. Dr. Gardner will ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’ – Drs. Mamlin and Einterz – to lead the IU Center for Global Health to even greater heights.”
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About IU School of Medicine
IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability.